MMS Blog
By: Jedd Cole 15. August 2018
With Retention Knobs, Shop Sets Sight on Aerospace Machining
Olson Custom Designs (OCD) is moving from this 5,000-square-foot shop to a 24,000-square-foot facility as it expands to meet more aerospace work. The shop uses JM Performance Products’ (JMPP) high-torque retention knobs on all of its 40-taper machining centers in order to achieve the accuracy required for aerospace quality standards.
This is one of the high-torque retention knobs that is offered by JMPP and used in all of Olson’s 40-taper machines. The knobs are designed to overcome a design flaw that JMPP says is inherent in V-flange tooling: a slight bulge at the small end of the toolholder that keeps it from making full contact with the taper of the spindle. The knobs are said to increase surface contact by 70 percent, mitigating milling problems like vibration and chatter to improve tolerances, repeatability, surface finish, tool life and spindle wear, among others.
This diagram from JMPP compares various CAT 50 retention knob designs. The company’s high-torque retention knob (on the far right) is slightly longer than traditional retention knobs (shown to its left), but it shares the same head dimensions.
In 2014, brothers Mitch and Brian Olson started Olson Custom Designs (OCD), based in Pittsboro, Indiana. Although they had extensive backgrounds in both motorsports racing and fabrication, neither had much experience with CNC machines prior to starting the company. So, because CNC machining is the backbone of OCD’s custom machining and fabrication operation, investments in the right machines were of vital importance to the family-owned job shop, which services myriad industrial markets including aerospace, medical, motorsports and agricultural.
The Olsons purchased two vertical machining centers from Haas Automation: a VF-4 Profile and a VF-2YT Profile. The VF-4 provides a machining area of 50 by 20 by 25 inches, with a vector drive of either 30 hp or 22.4 kW, and a spindle speed of 15,000 rpm. It is equipped with an inline direct drive and a 40-station carousel toolchanger. The VF-2YT provides a machining area of 30 by 20 by 20 inches, with an 8,100-rpm spindle, internal coolant system, direct drive and a 20-station toolchanger.
Sponsored Content 14. August 2018
Putting Cutting Tool Vibration Control to the Test
The Steadyline system from Seco Tools features a pre-tuned vibration damper consisting of a heavy metal mass suspended inside the toolholder bar.
For cutting tools, a passive approach to vibration control requires the use of short, rigid tools and replacement of steel toolholders with those made of stiff tungsten carbide.
By: Jedd Cole 13. August 2018
Manufacturing News of Note: August 2018
Bourn & Koch’s 130,000-square-foot shop floor will be open for tours at its “Made in America” open house during IMTS 2018.
Bourn & Koch is inviting the manufacturing community to a “Made in America” open house at its Rockford, Illinois, headquarters Wednesday, September 12, and Friday, September 14. Tours will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on both days, including a display of original prints from Blanchard, Fellows, Springfield, DeVlieg, Bullard, Barber Coleman and other classic machine tool companies. Factory tours also include the 130,000-square-foot shop floor where the company remanufactures machine tools and builds Springfield vertical grinders, Blanchard rotary grinders, Bourn & Koch gear hobbers, Fellows shapers and DeVlieg milling machines. A redesigned and reengineered Blanchard 22AD-42 rotary surface grinder will be highlighted. The company is located in Rockford’s industrial zone, which is approximately 90 miles from McCormick Place, the location of IMTS 2018. For those who cannot attend the open house during IMTS, other tour dates are available by appointment. Learn more.
Here is some more news to note:
By: Mark Albert 12. August 2018
The International Manufacturing Technology Show Is for Job Shops
Here is a view of the show floor during a previous IMTS event.
Disruptive. Transformative. Futuristic. Revolutionary. These are some words that are often used to describe the technology that is on display at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS). Ignore them for a moment. For job shops and contract manufacturers, a better word to have in mind is “renewal.” IMTS is about renewal: moving from the usual, the old or the familiar to the fresh, the improved and the exciting. Renewal is especially important for smaller manufacturing companies right now, because the opportunities for them are ripe (and some serious threats are closing in as well). Changing with the times is a necessary adventure.
Let’s explore some of the reasons why IMTS leads to renewal, with the idea that renewal is a positive, compelling and reassuring way to think about this important show.
By: Stephanie Hendrixson 11. August 2018
CMM Inspection Aided by 3D-Printed Fixtures
CI quality engineer James Pershken used the mold design environment of a CAD program for the initial design of this 3D-printed fixture. He then modified the outcome by adding a standard base to fit the CMM table and splitting the protrusion on the top into four segments to allow some flex in holding the part. (Images courtesy of CI.)
Once the fixture has been set up, the CMM calibrated and an initial part measured, subsequent parts can simply be dropped onto the fixture and inspected with the touch of a button.
“A lot of the motivation for me personally was that we were such a small operation,” James Pershken says. “Basically everyone is trying to do a lot of things, and it really helped me kind of offload some of this monotonous work from my plate and be able to help out in other areas.”
Mr. Pershken is not talking about robotics or sophisticated software here, but something a little less obvious: fixturing for coordinate measurement machine (CMM) inspection. As a mechanical quality engineer at Cincinnati Inc. (CI), he manages the CMM inspection of machined parts for the company’s 3D printers. The benefits outlined above came from actually using those very same 3D printers to make custom CMM fixtures that, in turn, support the manufacture of new printers.
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